‘A Bright, Warm Light’: Remembering Omer Balva

The following is an article that I wrote, which appeared in the October 26, 2023, edition of the Washington Jewish Week, about Omer Balva, a 22-year-old Maryland native and soldier in the Israel Defense Forces who was tragically killed in northern Israel in an anti-tank missile attack on October 20, 2023:
 
‘A Bright, Warm Light’: Remembering Omer Balva
 
With a deep and abiding love of the state of Israel, Omer Balva made the decision to head to Israel and enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after he graduated from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (CESJDS) in Rockville in 2019. And after Hamas unleashed a series of heinous terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct.7, Balva knew what he had to do. After purchasing supplies that he understood his fellow soldiers might need, he got on a plane and flew back to Israel so he could do his part in defending the Jewish state.
 
On Oct. 20, Balva, a 22-year-old Maryland native and a staff sergeant in the 9203rd battalion of the IDF’s Alexandroni Brigade, was tragically killed in northern Israel on the Lebanon border in an anti-tank missile attack. The IDF confirmed Balva’s death, noting in a written statement that it “will not stand by as its soldiers and civilians are attacked” and that it “shares in the family’s grief and will continue to support them.”
 
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State confirmed the death of a U.S. citizen in Israel on Oct. 20 in an emailed statement, offered the State Department’s “sincerest condolences to the family on their loss” and noted that it had no further comment out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.
 
“I don’t think I’ll ever really come to terms with the fact that he’s no longer with us. He had such a bright, warm light, and he just made everybody feel so incredibly loved and important. And there really are no words to explain how much love he had and how pure his soul was,” said Alexa Bennaim of Gaithersburg, a close family friend who noted that Balva was “like a little brother to me,” in a phone interview.
 
Bennaim, who called the Balvas her chosen family and considers Balva’s parents, Sigal and Eyal, her “second parents,” grew up just a few houses down from Balva and spent every morning together with him on their way to school at CESJDS. The two families celebrated holidays together, went to the synagogue together and “did everything together,” she said, noting that her parents and Balva’s parents are best friends. When the Balvas moved back to Israel, it was very difficult for the two families because of the geographic distance that would now be between them.
 
Balva’s decision to forego the traditional college experience at the time and join the IDF after high school was an easy one, according to Bennaim.
 
“That was something that Omer always wanted to do. He had such a strong love of Israel and a passion to defend his country, and that was something that he had talked about since he was young,” she said. “He followed in his older sister Shahar’s footsteps. She was in Oketz [the IDF’s canine unit] when she was in the military in the IDF. And he was so proud of her, and he wanted to do his part to contribute in keeping Israel safe.”
 
Bennaim’s father flew to Israel to be with the Balva family at Omer’s funeral, which was held in Herzliya on Oct. 22, and she has been in touch with Omer’s sister every day since his tragic death.
 
“Shahar always says to make sure that people know what an incredible and pure hero Omer is, was and always will be,” said Bennaim as she fought back tears.
 
Balva recently returned to the U.S. for the wedding of a close family friend in California and was making a trip out of it with his girlfriend, Odelia, who was “the absolute love of his life,” according to Bennaim.
 
The two were in Las Vegas when Balva got news of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and he immediately decided that he needed to head back to Israel to fight with his peers. He first traveled to Maryland to spend a few days there before leaving for Israel, during which time he got to visit with his brother, Barak, who lives in Boston and came to see him. Balva and his girlfriend also went to Bennaim’s house for dinner, where they spent time together.
 
“We joked and laughed, and really took in every moment we had with him knowing what he was going into,” Bennaim said. “We spent Omer’s last Shabbat together. He promised us he would come back. I’m just honored that we got to spend that time with him … and really got to enjoy his special presence with all of us.”
 
When Balva was getting to ready to leave at the end of the night, Bennaim gave him a really long hug and said, “don’t go and be a hero.” In response, Balva didn’t say ‘I won’t;’ he said, “don’t worry about me.”
 
“That is something that was very true to Omer’s spirit,” Bennaim said, referring to that final heartfelt exchange with Balva. “He always wanted to make everybody else feel good and feel comfortable and feel safe. It just speaks to the kind and loving nature of his soul.”
 
“We are saddened by the death of Staff sergeant (res.) Omer Balva, a brave commander who served Israel with courage and dedication. We express our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends,” Israel’s Embassy in Washington said in an emailed statement. “Omer Balva was a commander in the 9203 battalion who answered the call to defend Israel after Hamas’s horrific acts and the threats on the Israeli-Lebanese border. He sacrificed his life for the security of Israel and the values of our people. May his memory be a source of inspiration and strength to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time, and may his loved ones find comfort in knowing that Omer was a true hero.”
 
Balva described his strong connection to Israel and his love of the Jewish state in a 2018 Prezi project that he made for school in 2018. Noting that his paternal grandmother was born in Tiberias, Israel, and that her family had been in Tiberias since the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, he outlined how she survived the Tiberias massacre of 1938, in which a band of Arabs went from home to home attacking the Jews who lived there. He also described his grandmother’s heroic efforts to help wounded soldiers coming back from Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956, and how she acted as a nurse and brought food to soldiers during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
 
Balva was the first member of his family to be born in the U.S., with his two older siblings having been born in Tiberias before his parents moved to the U.S. in 1996 and settled in Bethesda.
 
“My passion has always been to protect Israel and suggest what is best for what I believe is the greatest country in the world,” Balva wrote as part of his school project.
 
“He was the kind of kid who walked into the room and had a smile that would lighten up the room. He was really loved by his friends, other students and teachers, and he was involved in a lot of activities at school. He was just a real pleasure … people enjoyed having him in the room as a friend, as a student,” said Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, Ed.D., Head of School at CESJDS, in a phone interview.
 
Malkus described Balva, who began attending CESJDS at the age of seven, as “an unabashed and proud supporter of Israel and the Jewish people,” noting that he went on the school’s 12-week Irene and Daniel Simpkins Senior Capstone Israel Trip after graduation and then enlisted in the IDF. He described the Balva family as being “deeply embedded in this community, but also in Israel,” and spoke about their love of Judaism and Israel.
 
For the CESJDS community and the greater Washington Jewish community, Balva’s loss has hit particularly hard.
 
“There’s been an outpouring of support for his family and people trying to send words of comfort to the school through me. When we heard the news, my wife and I were crying and she said, ‘this isn’t just close to home – this is in our house.’ And that’s how it feels. It’s just devastating,” Malkus said.
 
While noting that the school community is still processing what happened, Malkus said they are going to plan a memorial for Balva “because we need to come together as a community to mourn him.”
 
“He knew inside deeply that he wanted to be in Israel, to defend the state of Israel and to serve in the IDF,” Malkus said. “What I take from all of this, and it is some comfort, is his tremendous passion for Israel. And that’s something that lives in our community currently, but we can be strengthened in what we’re doing, in our resolve, when we know that there are kids like Omer who are willing to put themselves on the line in ways that are unbelievable and that touch us really deeply.”
 
Statements of support in the wake of Balva’s death came from a range of sources, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and Reichman University, where Balva was studying business and economics.
 
When asked about the best way that people could honor Balva’s memory, Bennaim spoke about his incredible sense of kindness for others.
 
“I think the best thing to do is to stand up for Israel, speak out against terrorism, advocate for goodness and find kindness in your heart to show to others. Omer was always so kind to everybody he met, and I know how much he loved making everybody feel so good and so loved. So, if we can all find it in our hearts to show the love that Omer would show to everybody, I know that it would honor his legacy,” she said.

My letter in The New York Times regarding the rise of the far-right AfD party in Germany

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about the rise of the far-right AfD party in Germany and why it is a red flag for the international community in general and Jews in particular:

June 29, 2023

To the Editor:

Re “As German Worries About Future Rise, Far-Right Party Surges” (news article, June 21):

The expanding and emboldened far-right element in Germany is not solely a concern for Germans; it is also troubling for the international community in general and Jews in particular.

Extremism fueled by xenophobia and a deep sense of nationalism in a country that carried out the systematic murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust is foreboding and a grave threat to democracy.

With global antisemitism increasing at an alarming rate and Nazism experiencing an unsettling resurgence, the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany and the political gains that it has made are a proverbial red flag.

When extremism becomes normalized and gains a foothold in the mainstream political arena and people flagrantly fan the flames of fanaticism, we have a societal and moral obligation to sound the alarm.

N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

Marching Against Massacres and Martyrdom

The following is an op-ed that I wrote, which appeared in The Jewish Press on April 28, 2023, about the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Israel, in particular the three in which multiple siblings were killed, and what the next steps could/should be:

Marching Against Massacres and Martyrdom

The gut-wrenching wails pierced the heart and soul of everyone that heard them. As thousands of people participated in the funeral of Maia Dee, 20, and Rina Dee, 16, the endless stream of tears and indescribable anguish that filled the room were stark reminders of the terrible tragedy that occurred.

The two sisters, whose family emigrated to Israel from the United Kingdom, were in a car in the Jordan Valley with their mother, Lucy, during the holiday of Passover when they were shot and killed in a heinous terrorist attack. As the girls’ father buried two of his daughters, the girls’ mother was fighting for her life in a Jerusalem hospital after sustaining serious injuries during the shooting, which ultimately claimed her life as well just hours after her daughters’ funeral.

In an instant, a Jewish family was torn apart in a senseless act of violence carried out by Palestinian terrorists. Sadly, this was not an isolated incident. In February 2023, two brothers, Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, were shot to death in a terrorist attack in the town of Huwara when a Palestinian gunman opened fire on their car. Earlier that same month, Asher Menachem Paley, 7, and Yaakov Israel Paley, 5, lost their lives in a car-ramming attack that was perpetrated by a Palestinian terrorist. The boys’ father, who was seriously wounded in the attack, spent several weeks in a coma and only learned of his sons’ death after he regained consciousness.

In the span of just two months, we unfortunately bore witness to multiple terror attacks in Israel in which people lost their lives, and while each terrorist incident is horrific, the images of three families burying multiple children will undoubtedly leave an indelible mark on our hearts and minds.

The question is, what now? How should Jews react? How should the world respond? What are the next steps?

As hundreds of thousands of people took to Israel’s streets over the past several months to protest the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, it generated extensive media coverage around the world. The issue sparked an intense debate not just among Israelis, but among Jews across the globe. Moreover, it engendered spirited discussions among world leaders and political pundits everywhere. Irrespective of one’s opinion on the proposal to overhaul Israel’s judiciary, the fact remains that the subject became fodder for a national and international debate of epic proportions.

And yet, as Jews are being murdered by terrorists who set out to take Jewish lives, the mass protests we have seen in conjunction with the judicial reform legislation are not being replicated. The plethora of news outlets that regularly spotlighted the Israeli government’s plan relative to the judiciary are not generating the same level of coverage as terrorists continue killing innocent civilians.

We cannot sit idly by as Jewish blood is spilled. We cannot remain silent or indifferent while Palestinian terrorists continue slaughtering our Jewish brethren. We cannot become immune to the murder and mayhem that is taking place at the hands of terrorists intent on destroying the Jewish people and eradicating the Jewish state.

If it is huge protests that are required to underscore the gravity of the situation, then people should organize and engage in peaceful protests. If marching in the streets is an effective way to highlight what is happening and capture the world’s attention, then we should do it.

We must encourage world leaders to focus as much attention, if not more, on the terrorist attacks targeting Jews as they put on the proposed judicial reforms, with which they seemed enraptured. Rather than dissecting Israel’s democracy and fixating on an issue that centered around the Israeli form of government, the international community should engage in an open and honest conversation about the barbaric and brazen terrorist attacks that are killing Israeli civilians.

As the Palestinian Authority and terrorist groups like Hamas continue to go unchecked in their endless efforts to glorify terrorism by promoting and promulgating propaganda and “educational materials” that denigrate and demonize Jews and the State of Israel, more and more Jews are losing their lives to acts of unimaginable brutality and martyrdom. Those who remain silent as an entire generation of Palestinians is indoctrinated with an extreme hatred of their Israeli neighbors are essentially complicit in their abhorrent actions, which ultimately result in Jewish families being forced to bury and mourn for their loved ones.

As the crowd at Maia and Rina Dee’s funeral waited for the girls’ father and three surviving siblings to enter, they sang Hebrew songs about hope and belief in God. Rabbi Leo Dee then eulogized his daughters by speaking powerful words of unity, love, and respect, noting that there is no moral equivalence between terrorists and their victims.

Even in the depths of despair, a grieving father had the clarity and conviction to focus on what is important and issue a call to action, exhorting people to ensure that terrorism is never accepted as legitimate. If public protests and marching in the streets is what seems to sway world opinion, then let’s start marching.

My letter in The New York Times regarding President Bashar al-Assad of Syria

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and the decision by some Arab nations to normalize relations with Syria despite al-Assad’s reign of tyranny and terror:

April 18, 2023

To the Editor:

Re “After Shunning Assad for Years, the Arab World Changes Its Tune” (news article, April 14):

It is troubling to see that several Arab nations have chosen to embrace President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whose tenure has been marked by unspeakable atrocities and egregious human rights violations. His reign of tyranny and terror should result in ongoing condemnation, not the newfound credibility that is being bestowed upon him by Syria’s Arab neighbors.

Mass killings and widespread violence that have forced millions of people to flee their homes cannot and should not be overlooked when assessing the strategic importance of re-establishing formal relations with Syria and its rogue leader.

Mr. al-Assad should be reviled, not recognized.

N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

My letter in The New York Times regarding Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's antisemitic remarks

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's troubling statements that caused a great deal of concern and consternation in the Jewish community:

February 2, 2023
 
To the Editor:

Re “Speaker’s Union With Firebrand May Shape G.O.P.” (front page, Jan. 23):

Political alliances often stem from political expediency, as appears to be the case with Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

In his quest to win the privilege of wielding the speaker’s gavel, Mr. McCarthy brokered agreements with several far-right members of Congress, including Ms. Greene. While doing so is certainly his prerogative, rather than unconditionally empowering Ms. Greene to the extent that he has, I would have liked to see the speaker insist on renunciations of her past antisemitic remarks and behavior.

Likening President Biden to Adolf Hitler, making Holocaust analogies about mask mandates and espousing antisemitic tropes, including her claim that a Jewish banking family may have used space lasers to start a California wildfire, are some of the things that have caused great concern and consternation in the Jewish community.

At a time of rising antisemitism, we know that such statements beget greater bigotry. Before Mr. McCarthy further emboldens Ms. Greene and grants her an even more prominent platform in the halls of Congress, his insistence on a public disavowal of her disturbing diatribes would certainly be appropriate.

N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

My letter in The New York Times about Pennsylvania political ads and ‘a flood of falsehoods’

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about Pennsylvania political ads and ‘a flood of falsehoods’:

November 5, 2022

To the Editor:

Re “With Push of a Button, Lies Flood a Swing State” (front page, Nov. 1):
 
As a Pennsylvania voter, I find that it has become increasingly difficult to cut through the deluge of disinformation that has flooded the airwaves, our mailboxes and social media channels in connection with the coming election.
 
Regrettably, far too many people choose to peddle propaganda in a brazen attempt to mislead voters, and the relative ease with which deceptive and denigrating material is widely disseminated degrades an already tenuous political system.
 
With an electorate that is already jaded and exceedingly cynical because of the rancor that has become so pervasive in American politics, we cannot afford to give voters yet another reason to stay home on Election Day. Pennsylvanians deserve better than a flood of falsehoods that threatens to wash away the decency and credibility that we desperately need in our electoral process.
 
N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

My letter in The New York Times about the formation of the Forward Party

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, about the formation of the Forward Party:

August 8, 2022

To the Editor:

Re “Andrew Yang’s New Third Party Will Fail,” by Jamelle Bouie (column, July 31):

The Forward Party’s founders are right about the lamentable level of acrimony in American politics today, but their plan to address the underlying issues is fundamentally flawed.

The political discourse has regrettably become divisive and dangerous, and extremism has crept into the mainstream at an alarming rate. We would benefit immensely from restoring a measure of respect and gentility to America’s political framework. But forming a new third party to “reintroduce choice and competition” is not the answer.

Mr. Bouie is correct about third parties historically being founded to further a particular issue or ideal. However, unlike the Equal Rights Party, the Constitution Party, the Working Families Party and many others, the Forward Party is predicated on nothing more than an amorphous notion of catering to moderates and creating more political choices.

We do not need more choices; rather, we need to focus on restoring civility and bipartisanship to the political lexicon. To weather the political tempest that clouds our democratic system, we need to fix the existing parties, not create new ones.

N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.